


The One-Eyed Dragon Job

by redstapler



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Leverage
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, F/M, Gen, Heist fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2020-07-24 20:35:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20020633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redstapler/pseuds/redstapler
Summary: For the last 108 years, the Fire Nation has run roughshod over the world. Rich and powerful, they've taken what they've wanted. We need to take a stand to return balance to the world. Without the Avatar, what the world needs is...leverage.





	1. Tired Jokes And Wooden Dimes, I've Been Everybody's Friend - or - Setting Up the Pai Sho Board

_For the last 108 years, the Fire Nation has run roughshod over the world. Rich and powerful, they've taken what they've wanted. We need to take a stand to return balance to the world. Without the Avatar, what the world needs is...leverage._

Hakoda had done lots of things in his life he regretted. While he knew what he was about to do would be better in the long run for everybody, he deeply regretted it right now.

Katara was twelve, and her waterbending was getting stronger every day. She was unable to control it, and it was only a matter of time before that got the entire community in danger. It was the entire community who was paying for it already. He sighed, and went back to directing his men in the soul-crushing act of deconstructing the village.

Unable to protect them, he’d arranged for everyone to move somewhere else. Most of the village was relocating to live with their cousins in the North, where an army of waterbenders could protect them with defensive tactics and thick, unyielding walls.

This is where his other stab of guilt kicked in.

One might think the guilt would have been that he was sending his spitfire of a daughter to the North where that would be trained out of her--that was at least a “for her own good” solution that would only anger her, and, truth be told, his mother. But no, in a choice he knew would gnaw at him with guilt to the end of his days, he’d made other arrangements for his mother and his two children. If pressed, he would explain that his mother swore she’d never go back North, and this was the compromise. In the honesty of the dark of night, what he was doing felt like he was pawning his people off on the North, and showing greedy preference to his own family.

Saying it was a compromise would imply he’d ever considered sending them north at all. It never even crossed his mind.

Kanna and the children were going to Ba Sing Se to stay with an ally he’d befriended some years back. It was the safest place in the world, and where Sokka and Katara could get the formal education they certainly weren’t getting in the South Pole. (Hakoda didn’t think much of the educational opportunities in the North, but he kept that to himself.)

It also helped that a waterbender couldn’t get into too much trouble in the middle of an ultrafortified city in the middle of the Earth Kingdom. Hakoda knew better than to believe that, but he held onto it anyway. He also held onto the hope that if the Southern Water Tribe just wasn’t there anymore, the Fire Nation would leave them be-- and truly believe that there were no more Southern waterbenders to be found.

* * *

_Ten years later_

When he’d taken the throne out from under his brother, Fire Lord Ozai had envisioned a life more of riding into battle, and less of riding desks. That said, he couldn’t deny that the fearful peace over which he presided was also fine. As fun as conquering by might was, subterfuge and political intimidation was providing a much more reliable, if nefarious, sort of peace. A ruler who had the appearance of being flexible was given inches and took miles with no pushback. In his own backhanded way, his father demonstrated that quite effectively. Azulon’s reputation as a monster made selling the lie about him “giving” the crown to his second son all the more believable. If nothing else, Ozai knew how to work with what he had.

He was shaken from his reverie by a knock at the door.

“Come,” he called out to his visitor.

A man, tall and similarly imposing, strode in.

“Your highness,” he said with a deep bow.

“Zhao, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Ozai gestured to the available chair across from him, which the other man gratefully sunk into.

“It’s time for my quarterly report on your, uh, on the prince, your highness.”

A stormcloud crossed over Ozai’s features, but it passed quickly. Zhao had recovered from his slip with aplomb.

“You may proceed.”

“Thank you.” Zhao unwrapped a sheaf of papers, along with a set of official-looking scrolls. “Here is the formal report, to peruse at your leisure. Nothing major of note. He remains in Ba Sing Se under the pretense of studying at the University. He’s taking some classes, mostly history and philosophy, and his marks are respectable. He keeps to himself, no real friends or hangers-on.”

“Any women? I’m not keen on having some wench show up saying she’s carrying my grandson.”

“No, sire. No women, and, forgive my presumptuousness, no men, either. He has no close ties, platonic or otherwise.”

“Curious. And training? How’s his firebending?”

“No one I spoke to brought up they’d ever seen him firebending, only hand to hand and sword fighting. In those, he trains regularly.”

“Curiouser. Anything else?”

“Well, sire, um…” Zhao coughed and wavered.

“Out with it,” Ozai spat.

“His birthday is this summer. His 24th birthday.”

“I see.”

“In order to honor the tradition of a year’s betrothal before his 25th birthday--”

“I am well aware of the tradition, Zhao.”

“Yes, sire.”

“Did you have a plan to propose, or are you just bringing this problem to my feet like it was a dead sparrowkeet?”

“Are any of the Princess’s friends--”

“They don’t deserve to be thrown away like that. More to the point, he doesn’t deserve attention from the likes of them.”

“I see.”

“So again: do you have a solution, or are you going to make this my problem?”

“Give me a month.”

“You have two weeks.”

“Thank you, sire.”

“You’re dismissed.” Zhao stood and bowed to his lord, then backed his way to the door, careful to remain facing Ozai, as was respectful. “And Zhao?”

“Yes, sire?” Zhao straightened out of his bow.

“Don’t forget that the easiest way to solve this problem is that he simply doesn’t see his 24th birthday.”

“Of course, your highness. I shall return in two weeks.”

“See that you do.”

Zhao finally reached the door and, with a final dip lower, exited the room.

* * *

A messenger hawk came screeching in, disturbing the peace in the small tavern. It landed on a pai sho board in the back of the room, screeching once more as tiles flew this way and that.

“All right, all right,” a round old man said, soothing the bird. He untied the coiled package from the harness, and held out a cashew as a reward. The bird snatched the nut from his hand, screeched once more, and flew back out of the tavern. “That bird could find me anywhere, I swear,” he said, sheepishly smiling at the rest of the room. The man found himself the target of several disgusted glares before they turned back to their own conversations. Satisfied the focus was off him once more, he unrolled the note attached to the parcel.

 _Iroh,_ the note said, written in code.

_Here is a copy of Zhao’s latest report on Zuko. The boy is fine for now, but I have concerns about his ongoing safety. Zhao has been tasked with making sure Zuko finds a fianceé before his 24th birthday-- or making sure he doesn’t live to see his 25th. The last time we spoke, you expressed a concern regarding this specific scenario, so I’m writing to tell you it’s arrived. If you have any plans that don’t end with us all dead, now is the time to set them in motion. I realize this sounds dramatic, but as much as I don’t relish continued rule by Ozai, the thought of Azula on the throne shakes me to my very bones. If we are to act, we have to do it now._

_Regards,_  
_Jee_

Iroh read the note a second time, then set it to smolder in his empty teacup. Jee had guessed correctly: he did have a plan, but it was extreme, and very much a last resort. Iroh had been hoping the balance would tip before it came to this point. As plans went it was risky, dangerous, and had the risk of leaving both him and Zuko dead, not to mention whoever else became involved. But it also had the possibility of rescuing the world from Ozai and Azula forever. Since inaction or failure risked their rule becoming even more solidified, the risk was definitely worth it.

Iroh sighed, placed some coins on the table, and made his way back to his quarters in the palace. He had a letter to write.


	2. Well I Started Out Down A Dirty Road, Started Out All Alone   - or - Meet The Gang (Gaang)

Katara held her final pose as the curtain fell in the tiny theatre in a section of Ba Sing Se better not discussed. A polite patter of applause wafted towards her, but there was no enthusiasm behind it. She dropped her arms with a sigh and made her way backstage. Another night, another lackluster performance of _Love Amongst the Dragons_.

She shut the door of her dressing room behind her, and jumped at the sight of another woman behind her in the mirror.

“You know, that may be the worst _Love Amongst the Dragons_ I’ve seen since Ember Island.”

Purely on instinct, Katara pulled the water out of the vase by her mirror and froze it into a stiletto, which she brandished in the direction of the voice. The woman sat languorously on the settee in the corner. She didn’t seem like a threat, not yet anyway.

“Um...thank you?” Katara still held the icicle menacingly and reminded herself that she couldn’t stab bad reviews, as satisfying as that sounded. “Can I help you?”

“The name’s June. I’m putting together a crew for a big job, and you came highly recommended.”

“By whom?”

“I can’t say, and I’ve gotta tell you, after watching that stinker, I’m wondering if they need their head checked.”

“OK, rude. I don’t come to your job and...tell you how to...whatever. What is your job anyway?”

“Imports and exports.”

“You’re a thief.”

“Imports and exports. And I acquire goods for interested parties. Such as the party who recommended you.”

“So what’s the job?”

“Have you heard of The One Eyed Dragon?”

“Who hasn’t?”

“Well, my employer wants me to...shall we say...acquire it.”

“I see. And where do I come into this scheme?”

“You’d be the woman on the inside.”

“Come again?”

“How do you feel about red? I mean, you’re wearing it now, so you can’t hate it that much.”

Katara looked at her dress with a frown. The dress she couldn’t “hate that much” was simply her costume for the play, and not something she’d choose for her regular look.

“This is my costume for the play, you know that right?”

“Yeah, yeah. Do you want the job or not?”

“What’s my cut?”

“Oh, I like you. What do you say we continue the negotiations over a drink? My treat. Well, the buyer’s treat, anyway.”

The new business associates made their way to June’s favorite dive in Ba Sing Se. Over a bottle of wine, they hammered out the broad strokes of what was to be a plan that would make them fabulously wealthy. She had to hand it to Katara-- what she lacked in stage presence, she more than made up for in business acumen.

After, June walked Katara back to her apartment, then made her way back to the inn where she was staying. The next morning, she sent word to her benefactor that the first of the job’s team members had been hired, and that she’d write again once she reached Omashu.

* * *

_Omashu, three days later_

To a casual observer, the slumped figure at the corner of the bar was just a slumped figure at the corner of the bar. He wore shabby clothes, and a conical straw hat that was pulled low, covering his eyes. He clutched a wooden cup like a life raft. His whole demeanor projected pathetic misery, specifically designed to keep one’s eyes sliding on down the bar.

June smiled, spying the satchel hanging between the man’s knees. The unmistakable shape of a boomerang was visible poking out from the bag’s flap. Moving in a wide arc, she crept up behind him and leaned her face close to his ear.

“Hi, Sokka.”

“Crap.”

Down the street, three figures froze.

“Everything okay?” A figure loitering in a doorway muttered to seemingly no one.

“For now,” Sokka replied, not to the woman over his shoulder, but to that figure in that doorway.

“Standing by. Keep going, you two,” the figure said to the two elsewhere, frozen in worry.

“Who you talking to, Sokka?” June’s voice drawled, dripping with suspicion.

“Just talkin’ to myself. Like the USELESS DRUNKARD I AM.” Sokka threw some coins on the bar, grabbed his satchel, and swept outside. Just because June saw through his disguise didn’t mean he wanted to blow his entire cover

Keeping in character, he shuffled toward an alley, trusting that June would take the hint and follow him. Once safely in the alley, he straightened his posture and threw his satchel on the ground, grabbing his boomerang.

“Okay, now that you’re not about to ruin our entire op, what do you want, June?”

“Aw, you remember my name! I’m flattered!”

“You and your dumb shirshu chased us all through Gaoling. Kinda hard to forget.”

“IT’S JUNE?” screeched a voice in Sokka’s ear.

“Shh! Keep going!”

“Did you develop an affinity for the spirit world since the last time we met?”

“Yeah, let’s go with that,” Sokka said, avoiding the question. “Now, what do you want?”

Knowing full well that was not the truth, June sighed and let it pass.

“I was going to offer you a job, but now I’m wondering if your entire family is crazy and overrated.”

“My enti--have you seen my sister? Do you know where she is?”

“Calm down. Your sister is fine. Don’t you want to hear about the job?”

“Yes, fine, tell me about the job.”

“I need you and your team to help me steal the One Eyed Dragon.”

Sokka blinked at her, and suddenly the ground shook violently. There was a great crash from up the street, and a short young woman in dark, nondescript clothing came running up the alley.

“SOKKA, YOU TAKE THIS JOB OR SO HELP ME--”

Trailing behind her was another, taller woman, and a beanpole of a young man with short dark hair and startlingly gray eyes.

Sighing, Sokka gestured toward the newcomers.

“June, you remember Toph, Suki, and Aang.” The two women and the man waved wary hellos.

“Charmed. So are you in or what? Continuing an earlier discussion, your sister’s already signed on.”

“WHAT?” Sokka’s eyes bugged so far, June was worried he’d hurt himself.

“Do you want to go somewhere and sort out the details? My employer said to buy you lunch while we discuss it.”

“I don’t know…” Sokka’s suspicion was interrupted with a loud growl from his stomach. Toph laughed at him, and Suki facepalmed. Even Aang looked like he was holding in laughter. “Ugh, fine. But you’re buying.”

“I already said, ugh. Nevermind. Let’s go. Wait, were you guys in the middle of a robbery?”

“Nah,” Toph piped up. “Just casing a joint.”

Sokka scowled at his friend for her big mouth, but sighed resignedly. The five of them made their way to a noodle house where they were seated in a back room away from prying eyes and ears.

Sokka made sure to order the most expensive dishes on the menu.

It wasn’t until hours later that June realized she’d never asked how Sokka had been talking to his team when they’d been several storefronts away.

* * *

After concluding her business in Omashu, June returned to Ba Sing Se. From her table at another cafe, she watched a tall man with a vicious scar sweep the patio of a humble Middle Ring tea shop. It was the in-between hours, too late for tea, but too early for stronger beverages. _Well_ , June thought, _only if you’re boring._ Her own cup of tea was liberally laced with Fire Nation whiskey, a bonus on her recently earned finder’s fee. _Sun’s over the yardarm somewhere_ , she thought, mentally toasting her benefactor.

June was to reconnoiter with her recruits in a few days, and in the meantime, had been tasked with watching this tea shop, and this employee in particular. June wasn’t stupid. She knew who her benefactor was, and getting a look at the kid, it was obvious who he was, too.

June took another sip of her “tea,” and wondered if a giant gold dragon statue was the true aim of this job.

Hey, as long as her purse stayed fat, what did she care?


	3. Chapter 3 - I Have Waited With A Glacier’s Patience - or - Who Wants Some Back Story?

_Gaoling, 14 years ago_

It deeply bothered Lao Beifong that his daughter Toph was, and was likely to remain, his only child. Small, blind, and helpless, Toph wasn’t the sort of heir he’d envisioned having. However, the doctor said that Poppy was unlikely to survive a second pregnancy, let alone a second birth, so he would have to put all his eggs in this one unfortunate basket. His only hope was that his rivals never learned how helpless his daughter was. He was determined to protect and educate her as best as he could, but he knew he had to keep his expectations low.

In the dark of night, no one noticed the tiny figure creeping out the window, down the trestle, and off the grounds of the estate. Lao Beifong was so worried about intruders entering the property, it didn’t occur to him to instruct his security team to watch for people leaving. Especially not his poor, sickly, 6 year old daughter. 

Once she’d skittered off the property and was on the path to the mountains, Toph felt at ease enough to giggle with delighted freedom. Her bare feet felt delicious on the road, and gave her a sense of what was around. It may have been nighttime, but to her, the terrain had the visibility of a clear day at high noon.

Once she arrived in the caves, she was greeted by the badgermoles she’d befriended. They practically swarmed her, snouts snuffling at her affectionately. 

“Hi, friends! I missed you, too! I’m sorry I haven’t been by lately. My Dad’s been really keeping an eye on me lately. I’ve been keeping my feet on him, though, thanks to you!” 

Toph giggled as they badgermoles gamboled around her. She realized their excitement at seeing her was a little outsized, and that they actually seemed a little agitated. They drew her further and further into the mountain, seemingly leading her to a specific place. Toph knew quite well the badgermoles weren’t pets, but their behavior reminded her of nothing else but the goat dogs in the plays her mother insisted on bringing her to. There was a whole series of shows about a goat dog whose primary function seemed to be alerting his owner’s parents to various disasters and children who fell down wells.

“What is it, La-si?” Toph couldn’t help but giggle at her joke. “Is Tan-mei injured again? Stupid Tan-mei. She always gets stuck places.”

Despite the joke, Toph felt like the badgermoles understood the actual meaning of her words. Joke or not, they seemed pleased to be understood, and hurried her deeper still into the mountain. Finally, they arrived at a dead end, a path long since closed by a cave-in. The badgermoles snuffled and clawed at the wall, but nothing happened. One badgermole nudged Toph’s elbow, as if to ask for help.

“Oh all right, you don’t have to ask me twice.”

Toph bent over and placed her palms on the ground to get a more complete picture of the area around the cave-in. _Huh_ , she thought. _That’s weird._

Toph could feel the space in front of her, before the wall, and the space beyond the far side of the cave-in, but she couldn’t feel what was in the space between. It was almost like glass, smooth and featureless. But also thrumming with power?

Toph reached down with her earth bending and _pulled_. Suddenly, a great earthquake began, and Toph was knocked back with a shout. 

Had she possessed sight, Toph would have been stunned by the sudden daylight-bright glow emanating from the center of the cave-in. After a few moments of the bright glow making the badgermoles scream, everything went quiet and dark again.

Just as she was about to ask the badgermoles if they were okay, Toph heard the sound of coughing coming from the rubble. 

“Is somebody there? Hello?” A small voice hit her ears. Whoever it belonged to was clearly a child about her own age. What on earth was another kid doing in the middle of a mountain in the middle of the night?

“Hello?” 

“Hello?”

“Yeah, I said that already. Who are you? What were you doing in that cavern? How did you get into that cavern?”

“I’m not really sure. Gyatso? Are you okay?”

“Who’s Gyatso?”

“He’s my-- he’s my uncle. Can you see anything? It’s really dark and I lost my fire rocks in the cave-in.”

“Buddy, yours is the only other human heartbeat I can feel.” Having said that, Toph felt the boy’s heart rate spike. “Are you okay? What’s your name?”

“Aa--Tenzin. It’s Tenzin. Gyatso! Where are you? GYATSO!” The boy’s voice was getting panicked, and his heart continued to race.

“Tenzin, I don’t think he’s here. Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m okay, but I need to find Gyatso!”

Toph stomped her foot, trying to find anyone else in the tunnels. Her breath caught when she made out the shape of a body, long since reduced to a skeleton. She swallowed the yelp she felt crawling up her throat.

“Tenzin? I don’t think Gyatso’s here.”

“He’s gotta be! He was right there before...there was a cave-in. What if he’s hurt? We’ve gotta help him, we’ve gotta--”

Suddenly, in a shift of energy Toph only felt but didn’t see, the bright light returned, and this time, glowed from Tenzin’s eyes. 

“Tenzin? Are you okay?”

“No,” said a thousand voices out of the small boy’s mouth. Suddenly, Toph felt the boy earth bending, and could feel the heat of...were those flames? He’d said he’d lost their spark rocks!

“GYATSO!” Shouted a thousand voices once more. Toph felt as the cave-in was cleared in a feat of Earthbending she knew only she was close to capable of. She heard him scream as he saw the skeleton she hadn’t told him was there.

“TENZIN! Stop! You’ll bring the whole mountain down!”

“GYATSO!” The boy yelled with all those voices, before the glow in his eyes winked out. The boy, small and powerless once more, fell to the ground, sobbing. 

Toph approached him carefully, and gently put a hand on his shoulder.

“Are you okay?”

“No,” he sobbed.

“Do you have someone I can send a message to? Someplace to go?”

“Gyatso was my only family.”

Toph chewed on her lip.

“Come back with me? I’ll show you where you can hide, and I’ll bring you food and stuff. We can figure everything out in the morning.”

“In the morning? I only just had breakfast! It’s already the morning.”

“Tenzin...it’s the middle of the night.”

“I’m so confused.”

“I am too. But look, I’ve gotta get home before my folks realize I’m gone, or I’m doomed. I don’t know if the badgermoles will be as helpful to you as they were to me.”

“Badgermoles? How did badgermoles help you?”

“They taught me how to Earthbend!”

“Ooh, think they can teach me?”

“Are you an Earthbender?”

“Yeah, I’m! I’m uh...yes. I’m an Earthbender.”

Toph knew this was a lie, but decided to let it go if they were going to get back home before dawn.

“Come on, Tenzin, let’s mosey.” With a wave of her hand, Toph cleared a path back out of the mountain, toward the path she’d arrived on. “So like I said, I can’t bring you into the house just yet, we’re gonna have to concoct a story about how we met. That’s going to be the tough part, seeing as my parents never let me leave the house unchaperoned.”

“But you’re out of the house right now?”

“Yeah, but they don’t know that.”

They made it to the mouth of the cavern, and Toph led the way back to her parents’ estate. She couldn’t see it, but the sky was starting to lighten with the beginnings of dawn. When they reached the property she turned to her new friend.

“Shhh,” she said. Stomping her foot again, she got a read on where the guards were in their respective patrols. “Okay, we’ve got a few minutes before anyone comes this way again. Follow me.”

As if he’d been doing anything else since they’d left the mountain?

Toph led him to an old shed on the far end of a field. 

“So this shed is where I go when I don’t want anyone to find me. The groundskeepers stopped using it long before I was born, but they never got around to taking it down. If you hide here, I’ll come and get you when it’s safe.”

“What if I need to eat or drink?”

“Ugh, fine, I’ll bring you some breakfast when I can.”

“I told you, I just ate breakfast a little while ago. How long was I in that mountain?”

“No idea, dude. But I’ve got to get back to my room before my governess comes to wake me up.”

“You have a governess?”

“Did you miss the part where we’re on a giant estate? That my parents own?”

“Okay, point. Well, thank you for rescuing me anyway. You never told me your name.”

“I’m Toph, pleased to meetcha.” Toph stuck her hand out in not quite the right direction. The boy took her hand and shook it. “Okay, now that that’s done, I’ve gotta scram. I’ll be back in a couple hours. Sit tight.”

* * *

Toph was not back in a couple of hours.

The small, scared boy hid in the shed like he’d been told, and wondered what had happened. The last thing he remembered, he and Gyatso had been traveling through the mountain. And then the rockslide and the cave-in. 

Suddenly, the boy heard people near the shed. They didn’t seem to be heading toward him, just walking by, and he heard some of their conversation as they passed.

“...damnedest thing! Bright lights shining all around the world, I heard? I don’t get it. The Avatar disappears for like a hundred years and suddenly he reappears at in the dead of night?”

The boy’s breath caught in his throat. A hundred years? How could that be? He felt panic creep up his spine as he suddenly had a vision from the night before: a skeleton wearing his mentor’s clothes, bathed in an eerie blue light. 

_He_ was the Avatar. _He_ was the one missing for a hundred years.

Panicked sobs wracked him. He kept himself as quiet as he could, but he couldn’t restrain his crying. Everyone he knew was gone. Who knew what horrors had befallen the world in his absence. He was a child, and the whole world would be on the hunt for him once more.

Toph collected him from the shed around lunchtime and brought him inside, convincing her parents he was her Earthbending teacher’s nephew. He was stunned and quiet, so Toph did all the talking.

Her parents had no idea the Earthbending teacher they’d hired had any siblings, let alone a nephew, but it was nice to see Toph have a friend. 

* * *

A month later, Toph and the boy were thick as thieves. Because he’d told her he was an earthbender-- and whoever heard of an Earth Kingdom kid with a name like Tenzin anyway?--- she taught him what she knew. 

The pair only ever had one fight, for all that it kept recurring. Repeatedly, the boy asked to go to the library at the center of Gaoling, and every time, the Toph refused. She had no need for books or formal education, and she was far too recognizable to go without raising her parents’ suspicions. The boy often considered going by himself, but he was too afraid of getting lost and possibly losing his only friend in the process.

Later, when Toph started sneaking out to go to Earth Rumble matches, the boy went with her. Before long, they were working on their own team-up act. The Blind Bandit and The Urchin began to climb the brackets in Gaoling’s toughest arena. The day they won the belt, Xin Fu, the Earth Rumble organizer approached them about taking the show on the road.

There was no hesitation when Toph accepted on the spot. Her partner, however, needed some convincing.

“Toph, we’re kids, we can’t just leave and go on tour. What about your parents?”

“What about my parents? Tenzin, we’re like...eight years old. We shouldn’t be competing, either, but you had no problem with teaming up with me.”

“No, I know, I just...they’re your family.”

“Do not get this twisted up in your “I never had a real family of my own” nonsense. You know how restrictive my parents are. You know how miserable I am. I get that you want parents and a home, but you also know damn well my parents aren’t the kind you want. This is our chance, Tenzin. We can finally be ourselves all the time.”

The boy, who after two years still hadn’t told his friend that Tenzin wasn’t his real name, chewed his lip guiltily. That was a conversation for another time.

“I don’t know, Toph. Is it even safe?”

“Do you seriously think The Boulder would let anyone lay a hand on either of us?”

The boy grinned: The Boulder had taken them under his wing. He took care of them like they were his little cousins, all mischief and candy for dinner. He couldn’t dispute the fact that if they went on the road with the tournament, The Boulder would also be the one making sure they were safe and eating their vegetables. (After they ate dessert first.)

Mention of The Boulder softened the boy’s resolve. 

“All right, let’s do it. But on one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“Before we leave with the tournament, you finally take me to the library in central Gaoling.”

“Ugh, fine. If that’s what it takes.”

Toph threw her arms up in exasperation, but was pleased all the same. She was finally going to get her big adventure! 

She knew that with her best friend by her side, it was only going to get better from here.

* * *

The next day, Toph packed her bag while the boy packed his. He’d remained in the abandoned shed, returning there each night after telling the Beifongs he was “going back to his Uncle’s house.” He couldn’t believe that in two whole years, no one had found him there.

How rich did one have to be to forget you had an entire shed? Beifong rich, he concluded.

After the midnight watch was called, Toph met him at the shed.

“Are you ready, Tenzin?”

“Ready as I’m gonna be, I guess.”

“Rad. So tonight we go to the arena, drop our bags, win a match, and then crash there. Tomorrow we go to your dumb precious library--”

“Toph.”

“...and then after that, we meet back at the arena with Xin Fu and the team to GO ON TOUR!”

“Shhhh, Toph! You don’t want any of the guards to hear you.”

“Eh, they’re all on the other side of the estate right now.”

“How do you know?”

“Oh, I put a sinkhole on the front lawn right before sunset. They’re running around like pig-chickens with their heads cut off trying to fix it!” Toph laughed at her own brilliance, then grabbed her friend’s hand. “Come on, let’s get to the arena already!” 

Per the stated plans, the two friends won that night’s match, then curled up in the green room, fast asleep. The Boulder and his pals had a traditional post-match poker game there, and he kept an eye on his young charges.

The next morning, they set off for the library.

“So what do you want to look up at the library, anyway?”

“Oh you know, just like...geography. The places the tour is going? I want to know about those cities.”

“You know I can tell when you lie to me, Tenzin. IF THAT IS YOUR REAL NAME.”

The boy choked on his own breath.

“What? I don’t know what you’re talking about! Tenzin is totally my name!”

“Chill out, I’m just teasing you. But if you wanted me to think Tenzin wasn’t your real name, that’s a great way to do it.”

“Okay, look.” Toph stopped short at the uncharacteristically serious tone in her friend’s voice. “There’s a big secret I haven’t told you, and I super, extra, mega promise I’ll tell you everything...after we go to the library.”

“You know libraries are entirely lost on me. You can just tell me your big secret now and get it over with. What are you, eight? How do you have such a big secret anyway?”

“Library first, then secret.”

“FINE.”

The pair arrived at the central library of Gaoling, a large and imposing building. Even early in the morning, it was bustling with students and scholars. Two small children walked through barely noticed, everyone too absorbed in their own business.

They made their way to the central circulation desk, where a young woman with a meticulously coiffed updo sat replacing checkout cards in books. She peered over the edge of the desk at them.

“May I help you?”

The boy cleared his throat, suddenly at a loss for words.

“I’m looking for uh...books?” 

Toph smacked her own forehead. Smooth.

“The children’s section is closed until 2, I’m afraid.”

“No, that’s fine, I didn’t want kids books, actually. I want to read a book on the history of the war.”

The librarian took a harder look at the boy and his little friend. They seemed awfully young to be asking for that kind of book. Also, she wasn’t sure, but she thought the little girl might be blind? Well, far be it from her to stand in the way of a child’s quest for knowledge.

“Any part of the war in particular, or…?”

“Anything that focuses on the Air Nomads would be helpful, thank you.”

“I’ll see what I can rustle up. Why don’t you and your friend take a seat over there and I’ll get some titles for you. After that, you go over to reference and they’ll pull them for you.”

“Thank you so much!”

The boy grinned and dragged his friend by the hand to a bench along the wall.

“Ugh, Tenzin, you didn’t tell me there would be waiting.”

“Have you really never been here before?”

“Hello! Blind girl! Books have literally zero value to me!”

At that, a librarian nearby turned and shushed the pair.

“Sorry,” the boy called, still a bit loud.

“SHHH!” 

The librarian they’d originally spoken to came over with a long piece of paper in hand.

“Okay, unfortunately ‘the war,’ and even just ‘the Air Nomads’ are still really broad topics. So I compiled a list of a couple early books and some more recent works that might help. Good luck in your search!” 

She handed the list over to the boy, and he got up, prepared to go to the next desk. He turned to his friend with an expectant look on his face.

“You coming, Toph?”

“Ugh, I guess.”

Another half hour of lines and waiting later, they were set up at a table in a small room with a stack of books and even a few newspapers. Toph had flashed her Beifong seal, which not only expedited the process, but got them their own room.

“Okay, Tenzin. Hurry up because we’ve got to get to the arena by 2 or they leave without us.”

“I know, I know. There’s just so much here! And it’s not like I can take any of these books with me!”

“It’s a library. I thought taking books with you was the entire point?”

“That’s a lending library. We’re in a reference library.”

“FINE. Either way, get on with it.”

The boy set to sorting the books in chronological order, and gasped when he got to the newspapers. 

“AVATAR RETURNED, BUT STILL IN THE WIND,” read the headline. He saw the newspaper was dated about two years ago, right around when he’d met Toph. He grimaced and set that aside for after he had more context.

The oldest, dustiest tome, _A Brief History of Fire Nation Conquests of The Last Fifty Years,_ seemed like the best place to start. He opened it to the table of contents and his breath caught at a particular chapter title. “ _The Air Nomad Genocide.”_

It had not escaped his notice that he neither saw nor heard about any Air Nomads since coming out of the mountain. But, he figured, Gaoling was far from any of the Air Temples, and it wasn’t like his people were known for hobnobbing with Earth Kingdom nobility. But genocide? He turned to the appropriate page.

_“Five years after the death of Avatar Roku, Fire Lord Sozin had advanced considerably into territories outside of the Fire Nation. Ten years later, colonies had been established in coastal areas of the Earth Kingdom. The Air Nomads had been wiped out completely._

_Since Avatar Roku’s successor had neither been identified or named--”_

The boy scoffed angrily at this, but continued reading.

“ _..Starting with raids at the various Temples, Fire Lord Sozin was determined to find the Avatar and capture him or her. After several years of being unable to find the Avatar, Fire Lord Sozin simply ordered the total destruction of the Air Nomad people. In the following pages, you will find detailed accounts and excerpts from primary sources regarding this time…”_

The boy scowled and closed the book. It had taken a while, but he’d come to terms with the fact that everyone he knew was gone. Gyatso had been very clear that no matter where they ended up, they probably would never see their brothers again. It was, however, one thing to be told that. It was quite another to read about what became of one’s home in a book technically younger than oneself. For hardly the first time, the boy felt far older than his lived eight years.

Picking up the book to set it aside, a scrap of paper fell out from between the pages. It was clearly some forgotten scholar’s notes, unseen for who knows how long. 

_Connection between Sozin and Roku? Details of their fight?_

Their fight? What little education the boy had received, the friendship between Sozin and Roku had been mentioned often. He read on.

_Lava? Active or passive? Accident or intentional? (look into: dragons?)_

He picked up the book again, this time opening the book to where the paper had been laid. An etching plate, a rich illustration in full color with gilding shone up off the page depicting the eruption of a volcano. The boy gasped, his head suddenly throbbing.

“Tenzin? Are you okay?”

“I…”

The boy did not finish his reply, and instead passed out, slumped over the book. Toph felt his heart rate spike, but had no idea what was going on.

With no sight, she had no idea that the boy’s eyes had an eerie glow.

The boy came back to himself, but he was no longer in the library. Well, he found himself in a library, but it was not in Gaoling. He wasn’t sure where it was. He saw a soft light ahead and walked towards it.

Slowly, an old man in Fire Nation garb came into focus. He was talking to a giant owl.

“Hello?”

“Avatar Aang. It’s time we talked.”

* * *

It had been two years since the earthquake that killed Lu Ten, that ended his previously held ambitions, that led Iroh to question, well...everything. No one knew why the Avatar had abandoned the world, no one knew where he’d been when he returned, and no one knew why he had yet to come forward. It all put things in a new perspective for Iroh, and he found himself unable to continue his family’s imperialist efforts. Iroh’s reputation had taken a drubbing when he’d conceded the throne to Ozai, but he paid it no mind. 

He meditated on the nature of many things: tradition, national pride, the nature of ambition, the nature of leadership. He meditated on legacy. His family was directly and personally responsible for the terrible imbalance of the world. By marrying Ozai to Roku’s granddaughter, Azulon was betting on his grandchildren possessing the power of Roku and the ambition of his father and himself. But what of a grandchild who possessed the power of Sozin, but Roku’s desire for peace and balance? Azulon surely hadn’t considered that kind of grandchild, but they’d all be fools not to realize which of Ozai’s children was which.

Iroh gladly gave up the possibility of a hasty second marriage with a rush to produce a new heir. That possibility inevitably brought with it the further possibility of Ozai becoming the sort of regent who never returned power to its rightful holder. It came with the possibility of Ozai coming to the same conclusion about Zuko’s temperament, and making sure he was as far from the line of succession as possible. And worst of all, the possibility of Azula, who already at the tender age of ten was as ruthless as Koh himself, taking the throne.

Iroh developed a plan. It hinged on many maybes and what-ifs, but from what he could tell, it was the best the world could do to avert the train crash he could so plainly see coming.

The one thing he knew he couldn’t bet on was the Avatar. It would be nice to have the Avatar on his side. It would be helpful, advantageous, even. But if Iroh knew anything, he knew Pai Sho: you had to play the tiles you had in your hand, and that were already on the board. Many brilliant gambits had failed for want of a single tile. The Avatar was far too large a tile to bet on coming up when he needed him.

* * *

“Come, Aang, there isn’t much time, but there is much I need to tell you.”

Aang blinked, the sound of his real name odd on his ears after hiding as Tenzin for so long.

“Who are you?”

“I am Avatar Roku, surely you could tell that.”

“I...suspected. What happened?”

The large owl stared at Aang with his unblinking gaze. He preened a wing haughtily, then spoke without moving his mouth.

_You abandoned your post, boy. The world has been thrown into chaos without you. What makes you think you can just reappear—_

“I’ve been here for two years!”

Roku chuckled at this. “Time moves differently here in the spirit world. Wan Shi Tong doesn’t like to acknowledge that, but I’m afraid that’s not an option for me.”

“Then why haven’t you said anything before now?”

“Because things are being set in motion that require you to know who you are.”

“I already knew I was the Avatar, though. That’s why Gyatso and I...left…” The small boy got quiet and thoughtful, thinking of his long-gone mentor. It was something he tried not to do very much. “What do I need to know now that’s so important?”

“You need to remain hidden.”

“You interrupted me finally getting to the library to tell me that?”

“The path you and your companion walk begins today.”

“Not when she found me?”

“Your mouth certainly has her influence. When you return to the world, stay with her, your spirits found each other for a reason.”

“Roku, do you know what’s going to happen?”

“Even if I did, there’s precious little I could tell you, and even less you could do with it.”

“Then what was the point of this?”

“You needed to know that the Avatars are behind you. You aren’t walking this path alone.”

“Oh.”

 _You forget yourself, Avatar. You serve the world, not the other way around._ Aang hadn’t even noticed that Wan Shi Tong had kept pace with them.

“I’m eight!”

_The son will be cast aside. Find him. The day of the comet approaches, but not before the Moon will die._

“Roku, can you tell me what he’s talking about? What son? What comet? How will the Moon die? Can the Moon even die?”

Roku stopped and knelt to look at the boy at his own level. He placed his hands on Aang’s shoulders and looked at him sadly.

“I can tell you no more than he has. Follow Toph where she’s going. Don’t tell anyone who you really are. I will speak to you again soon.”

And just like that, Aang felt the world around him blink out of existence. With a jolt and a gasp, he returned to himself, mere seconds from when he fainted.

“...nzin! Are you okay?”

He rubbed his eyes and started stacking the books back up to place on the returns cart.

“Yeah, I’m okay. Sorry if I scared you.”

“Your heart rate went absolutely bananas!” 

“I’m okay. Hey, let’s get out of here. Don’t want to miss the caravan, right?”

“Finally! You gonna tell me your big secret like you promised?”

The boy chewed his lip, Roku’s warning not to reveal his identity fresh in his ears. He figured he could at least give Toph is real name. That would be okay, right? 

“Aang. My real name is Aang.”

“Aang? Psh, I liked Tenzin better.”

“Good, because I’d prefer if you called me that when we’re around other people.”

“Jeez, you sure are still lying about a whole lot.”

“I promise I’ll tell you as soon as I can.”

“What? Tenzin, how would you even know?”

“I’ll know.”

The friends made their way to the arena, arriving with minutes to spare. 

Xin Fu stood at the head of the caravan, clipboard in hand. 

“You two! Finally! You’re in wagon 3 with The Boulder. He’s worrying himself sick that you wouldn’t show up! Get in there now so he doesn’t run off looking for you. Again.”

* * *

“AGAIN!” The small woman was formidable and yelled like it. 

Katara didn’t like her very much, but she couldn’t say that to the first Waterbending master she’d met in her whole life. Instead, she took a breath and went through the kata again as she’d been instructed.

Hama had been her teacher for a year and a half, and Katara was still unsure if it was a boon or a curse. The results, however, were undeniable: she was about to complete her mastery exam. Even supposing a world where Waterbending didn’t happen in secret or within the walls of the North Pole, Katara was set to be the youngest master in generations.

Katara took a deep breath and raised her arms. She delicately lifted her right foot, balancing flawlessly on the left. Dropping her wrists, she made light movements with her fingers like she was plucking strings. 

All around the room, water coalesced into globes, then froze. They remained hovering in the air, and as Katara shifted her fingers, morphed through different ice fractals. It was Waterbending at its most precise, and somewhat out of character for Hama’s lessons, more ornamental than martial. Each breath Katara took timed the next motion. 

“Good,” Hama intoned. “And return to rest, please.”

Letting her last breath go, Katara let each ice crystal melt and carefully return to the trough that ran along one side of the room.

“Congratulations, Katara. You are now a Waterbending Master.”

Katara jumped for joy, entirely drowned out by the cheers of her brother and grandmother, seated on cushions in a make-shift spectators’ area. Hama nodded to the boy, and he burst onto the training floor to pick up his sister and twirl her around. 

“I’m so proud of you, sis!”

“Thanks, Sokka!

“Congratulations, dear,” said their grandmother, easing herself back to her feet. “And congratulations to you as well, Hama. You’ve passed Southern Waterbending on at last!”

Hama smiled indulgently at her old friend, but something dark passed between them that went unnoticed by the siblings. 

“I had quite a worthy student! Now, Katara, why don’t you and your brother go celebrate?” Hama handed over a purse stuffed with coins, the siblings’ eyes widening at it. “Kanna and I are going to be boring and celebrate with tea and conversation.”

Sokka and Katara were still young enough to not see this for the misdirection it was, and they ran off into the streets of Ba Sing Se, the money burning holes in their pockets.

Hours later, they came back to their house, squeaking in just before curfew. They walked in, water flying through the front room and raised voices. 

“HAMA. I FORBID YOU TO SHARE THAT WITH HER.”

“KANNA, LOOK AROUND YOU. SHE NEEDS EVERY ARROW IN HER QUIVER AND YOU KNOW IT.”

“SHE DOESN’T NEED THAT ONE!”

Katara and Sokka slunk in without notice and went to their rooms. Hama and Kanna’s voices raged on so long, the siblings fell asleep before they ended. Well, Sokka did. Katara lay awake trying desperately to make out the words the two most important women in her life hurled like daggers at each other.

When Katara woke the next morning, Hama was gone. By her pillow was a note:

_Katara,_

_Our time together has concluded. Kanna thinks it would be best if I left. I don’t agree, but I also don’t want to fight with my oldest friend. I have so few in this world, this is a compromise I’m afraid I must make._

_I leave you with this: Water is everywhere, and we are made of water, all of us. Think of that if you ever find yourself in truly dire straits._

_I love you. I will try to write when I can._

_-Hama_

Katara was stunned to silence by this news, and for the first time in her life, she thought she might hate her grandmother. The thought of Hama being lost to her, possibly forever, made the young waterbender cry. Sniffling, she found herself considering Hama’s words. “We are made of water, all of us.” Idly, Katara started bending her tears, shaping them into a lattice, her efforts of the previous evening in miniature. 

We are made of water, all of us. 

Katara sat up abruptly and ran to the small desk in her room, covered in scrolls. Medical scrolls. One in particular, was a treatise on the makeup of bodies, animal and human alike. Katara remembered a specific section, the section on blood.

 _Blood_ , the scroll began, _is the water of life. No being can live without water, no being can live without its blood. Because, at its base parts, blood is water._

Katara’s head spun. If blood was just another liquid, could she bend it?

 _Of course you can_ , a voice whispered in her mind. _You’re a Master Waterbender. You can bend any liquid you please._

The possibilities and ramifications of bending the very blood in someone’s veins shook Katara, and she realized this had to have been the subject of Hama and Kanna’s fight the night before. How very like Gran Gran to decide what was or wasn’t appropriate for Katara to learn, Katara thought sourly. 

The voice in her head whispered again. _How dare she, a non-bender, insist she knows better._ Katara was not used to having such uncharitable thoughts about her grandmother, but that dark part of her felt it anyway.

With the leftovers from the purse Hama had given her, Katara bought a lemur from a shop that very day. In exchange for an embarrassment of treats, Momo the lemur became the subject of Katara’s research. 

By the time Katara began studies at Ba Sing Se University, she had secretly mastered the skill. It was the first secret she’d ever kept from her family, but it wasn’t to be the last.

* * *

Life on the Earth Rumble tour was as chaotic, exhilarating, and wonderful as Toph could have ever hoped. True to his word, The Boulder took the responsibility for his young charges seriously. 

The Earth Kingdom is a large place, and they were on tour for the better part of a year. 

Aang never saw the articles or heard the terrible rumors coming out of the Fire Nation about the Crown Prince. Just as Aang had disappeared over a hundred years ago, so too, now, was the Crown Prince nowhere to be found.

The troubling thing was how many fewer people seemed to care.

* * *

Iroh stood on the deck of a steamship as it sailed eastward into a blinding sunrise. 

While he was relieved to be extricating his nephew from the Fire Nation, he was deeply troubled by the circumstances. Worse, for all of his planning, it was far too early for any arrangements to be in place.

They would have to improvise.

If there's one thing a seasoned General is good at, it's improvising. If there's one thing a seasoned General avoids at all costs, it's improvising.

Failure was not an option, and the odds were not in his favor. 

He started this whole gambit with the intention of saving the world, but at the moment, he would be glad to only save Zuko.

Failure was not an option, and the odds were not in his favor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How about I drop a giant chapter in the middle of a quarantine, yeah?
> 
> Be safe everyone, and wash your dang hands.

**Author's Note:**

> I already have one WIP, so hey, what's one more??
> 
> This one's been percolating since just before New Year's, and came about from a conversation with the ever-wonderful LittleLostStar!
> 
> Shoutout to Saiditallbefore and Blackhawkdown for having eyes on it, too! :D
> 
> And awayyyyy we go!


End file.
